I would like to know, what are your thoughts on the 4X genre of games and gaming? I have always been a fan of games like Civilization and Gal Civ II. I would like to know what have been your experiences with this genre and what are your thoughts on it?
I love 4X games, especially the ones set in space.
The concept of building something from scratch while managing every aspect of your empire is rewarding. The sense of progression is incredible. Also I am a history and sci-fi buff, so it always like the settings.
Also turn-based games are so relaxing to play but yet very engrossing.
I love 'em.
Currently I'm soaking a lot of time in Distant Worlds: Universe.
My playstyle however isn't focused on min/maxing but rather having fun and creating my own stories within the game, even if they gimp me.
After all I play 4x only in single player mode anyway.
Love blobbing like hell in EUIV, something satisfying in defeating a trans-continental coalition.
Civilization 5 is one of the best games ever made. Love it!
Heaps of fun but extremely time consuming
I like it, I never win but I still managed to pour time into SOASE
Interesting and generally pretty good, but usually far too time consuming. I find that Civ 4 gets boring before you get into the industrial age.
[QUOTE=SuperPlamz;46502155]Interesting and generally pretty good, but usually far too time consuming. I find that Civ 4 gets boring before you get into the industrial age.[/QUOTE]
I always feel the same with Civ games, the early game and mid game is a lot better and more engagin. I always feel like the game looses a lot of focus later on.
I find them super confusing. The only one I really got into was Endless Space, but I'd like to play more stuff like Sword of the Stars or GalCiv2 (or 3 when it actually launches). I plan on picking up Endless Legends.
[QUOTE=Banned?;46504882]I find them super confusing. The only one I really got into was Endless Space, but I'd like to play more stuff like Sword of the Stars or GalCiv2 (or 3 when it actually launches). I plan on picking up Endless Legends.[/QUOTE]
Endless Space is decent although lacks a lot of depth. It has a great inferface and graphics though, the music is great as well.
Endless Legends is apparently a blast to play and an amazing game, much better than Endless Space. Haven't played it yet though.
[QUOTE=junker154;46504920]Endless Space is decent although lacks a lot of depth. It has a great inferface and graphics though, the music is great as well.
Endless Legends is apparently a blast to play and an amazing game, much better than Endless Space. Haven't played it yet though.[/QUOTE]
ES certainly had its flaws, but for some reason it had a little bit of magic as well and it will forever be one of my favourite games, it was just a enthralling experience.
EL is absolutely stunning to look at due to its art style and incredibly sexy interface, it has a lot more depth than ES but for some reason I never felt the same magic as when I played ES. Something about the pacing in EL just felt odd and I spent many hours not doing much, at least it felt like it.
Still both are excellent games, definitely worth looking into for 4X fans
Yeah, I enjoy Endless Space but sometimes in the mid game I just feel like it is lacking a bit in some aspects. You mostly wage war and develop your colonies but it does not go that in-depth to be really fun after multiple playthroughs. But I liked that they added some unique aspects to the game, like having system wide developement, the card based combat and overall extremely well done interface.
i'm really bad at them but i still can just sit down for hours and play them.
definitely one of the more comfy genres.
Absolutely hate them, or any strategy game like that, at least, if they're turn based.
but that's my taste entirely. I understand every single reason why someone would LOVE this genre and respect that. There are tons of reasons why people love them.
IMHO it's a pretty vital and important genre to gaming as a whole.
though it's not totally the same genre though I AM loving pikmin right now. Micromanaging your pikmin, and managing three captains. It's extremely fun. But to me 4X is a much more hardcore version of that, and board + turn based, and much more grand and complex.
[QUOTE=junker154;46505020]Yeah, I enjoy Endless Space but sometimes in the mid game I just feel like it is lacking a bit in some aspects. You mostly wage war and develop your colonies but it does not go that in-depth to be really fun after multiple playthroughs. But I liked that they added some unique aspects to the game, like having system wide developement, the card based combat and overall extremely well done interface.[/QUOTE]
You could try looking into the ES modding scene, although it never got to be as big as it deserved to be, there's still some pretty good mods that address these issues.
A noteable mod that I've played to double my time in ES is Super Nova, which expands on everything and rebuilds the bigger part of the game. It ends up as a new experience and at the same time does at good job at pacing so the midgame is still pretty in depth
A link if you want to check it: [url]http://forums.amplitude-studios.com/showthread.php?18285-Super-Nova-%28Disharmony%29[/url] (It's a mod that requires Disharmony though, which is a excellent expansion of the base game)
I bought Distand Worlds: Universe a while back on steam but the tutorial was so god-awful that it made me lose interest in the game.
Been watching a few let's plays on it and been following a tutorial series on youtube, about to give it another go because it seems incredible.
As for the genre in general I quite enjoy it even though I'm not that good at them. I spent most of my time playing Civ 4 and 5.
I would've liked Endless Space more if it wasn't card based and had SotS or SoaSE style combat.
[editline]16th November 2014[/editline]
and SOTS2 if it actually ran and didn't crash by turn 40
My favourite genre. Its very rare I find a shooter that I enjoy as much as a good 4X RTS. I don't think X-COM really qualifies as 4X but that's about the limit of my interest in TBS.
I'm currently really enjoying Wargame Red Dragon's theoretical 2nd Korean War campaign set in the 90's. I got a warm glow where after about 6-8~ish gameplay hours (on turn 7) of holding out with Korean ground forces, Japanese naval elements and American airpower, French and British reinforcements arrived and I had both fleets steamroll Chinese fleets before letting loose French/British Marine regiments onto their main base territory.
I find the most enjoyable part in these games to be watching all out warfare and seeing certain units become memorable because of what they accomplish; when I played Russia in my Darthmod campaign wherein I conquered about a third of the planet, I had a few regiments of Line Infantry that had been there since turn 1 and earned max veterancy chevrons. Even better, E:TW lets you name units, so I did so for all of those regiments. In Wargame, my American squadrons of F18's and F14's had massive kill tallies and lasted ages, the F18's eventually going down in a blaze of glory when they sniped a heavy Russian cruiser. In SoaSE and Homeworld its generally that one Capital ship that is always there to murder everything.
Long story short, I get the infamous X-COM soldier attachment in every game like this, and it's great.
Too abstracted and esoteric for me.
[QUOTE=27X;46507949]Too abstracted and [b]esoteric[/b] for me.[/QUOTE]
Now, that needs some explaining.
[QUOTE=junker154;46507953]Now, that needs some explaining.[/QUOTE]
Too niche.
[QUOTE=Banned?;46507969]Too niche.[/QUOTE]
That's arguable though, I'm fairly sure that over the recent years the genre has gained quite some popularity, especially due to Civilization 5.
[QUOTE=junker154;46507993]That's arguable though, I'm fairly sure that over the recent years the genre has gained quite some popularity, especially due to Civilization 5.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but Civ V is the only game I've seen get touted as a more mainstream 4X, and it is the simplest 4X I've played. I've tried to play a wide amount of 4X games and I find a lot of them have insane interfaces and impenetrable mechanics. I must have stared at Sword of the Stars are a good 20 minutes before I realized I don't know what I was looking at. It also doesn't help that a lot of the go-to learning tools are YouTube videos that can go to an upwards of a half hour because there isn't a decent in-game tutorial.
[QUOTE=Banned?;46508126]Yeah, but Civ V is the only game I've seen get touted as a more mainstream 4X, and it is the simplest 4X I've played. I've tried to play a wide amount of 4X games and I find a lot of them have insane interfaces and impenetrable mechanics. I must have stared at Sword of the Stars are a good 20 minutes before I realized I don't know what I was looking at. It also doesn't help that a lot of the go-to learning tools are YouTube videos that can go to an upwards of a half hour because there isn't a decent in-game tutorial.[/QUOTE]
Civilization 5 with the expansions is quite advanced though. It is easy to learn but hard to master, which is a pretty good premise for most 4X games in my opinion.
I agree though that there are some fairly complex and confusing titles like Distant Worlds, Alpha Centauri or SotS2.
So I love 4x games, I have sins of a solar empire, civ 5/be, EL..what other 4x games should I look into?
[QUOTE=Naught;46508269]So I love 4x games, I have sins of a solar empire, civ 5/be, EL..what other 4x games should I look into?[/QUOTE]
Master of Orion 2 if you like retro games, it aged very well. Definitely Galactic Civilizations 2, perhaps one of the best sci-fi 4X games.
I also heavily recommend Alpha Centauri, it has such an amazing atmosphere and charm to it. Although the interface is horrible and it requires some time to get used to. It's still playable though and can be acquired at gog.
Actually had to google the term, apparently Factorio fits within this genre (in a rather unusual way). Never played any other games, Factorio is a blast though.
We need more 4X RTS games.
[QUOTE=Dr.Critic;46506756]My favourite genre. Its very rare I find a shooter that I enjoy as much as a good 4X RTS. I don't think X-COM really qualifies as 4X but that's about the limit of my interest in TBS.
I'm currently really enjoying Wargame Red Dragon's theoretical 2nd Korean War campaign set in the 90's. I got a warm glow where after about 6-8~ish gameplay hours (on turn 7) of holding out with Korean ground forces, Japanese naval elements and American airpower, French and British reinforcements arrived and I had both fleets steamroll Chinese fleets before letting loose French/British Marine regiments onto their main base territory.
I find the most enjoyable part in these games to be watching all out warfare and seeing certain units become memorable because of what they accomplish; when I played Russia in my Darthmod campaign wherein I conquered about a third of the planet, I had a few regiments of Line Infantry that had been there since turn 1 and earned max veterancy chevrons. Even better, E:TW lets you name units, so I did so for all of those regiments. In Wargame, my American squadrons of F18's and F14's had massive kill tallies and lasted ages, the F18's eventually going down in a blaze of glory when they sniped a heavy Russian cruiser. In SoaSE and Homeworld its generally that one Capital ship that is always there to murder everything.
Long story short, I get the infamous X-COM soldier attachment in every game like this, and it's great.[/QUOTE]
Out of all the games you mentioned in the entire post, SoaSE is the only 4X game
anyway, Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic
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